Champions

12/5/2012

Two area high school teams have won state titles — and bragging rights — in boys’ football and girls’ soccer in recent weeks. A third local team fell short, but all are worthy of recognition.

Last week, Central Catholic’s football team beat Trotwood-Madison, last year’s Division II champions. In the fourth quarter of the title game, the Irish held off a furious opposing charge to secure their first state crown since 2005. Coach Greg Dempsey’s squad finished this season with a 14-1 record.

Last month, the Perrysburg girls’ soccer team completed a 23-0 season with a Division I championship. It was a dominating season for the Lady Yellow Jackets: The top-ranked team in the state — and second in the nation, according to some polls — outscored opponents 108-5.

The title was the first ever for a northwest Ohio girls’ soccer team. And the state trophy the Lady Yellow Jackets brought home was the first for any Perrysburg high team, boys or girls, since 1991.

The football team from Whitmer High School was not quite as successful. The Panthers had rolled to a 14-0 record in the regular season and Division I playoffs before losing last week to Moeller High School — the Cincinnati school’s eighth state championship.

In the past three years, Whitmer’s football team has lost twice in the semifinals and once in the title game. But the lack of a title this year doesn’t detract from the Panthers’ impressive accomplishments.

Fans of high school athletics in the Toledo area have had a lot to cheer about this fall. And the young men and women from these three schools have earned the community’s praise.

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